ANKARA

Arab countries strongly condemned on Friday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks about the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Egypt’s border.

In an interview with the Israeli Telegram channel Abu Ali Express, Netanyahu claimed there were “different plans for how to rebuild Gaza” and alleged that “half of the population wants to leave Gaza,” describing it as “not a mass expulsion.”

He added: “I can open Rafah for them, but it will be closed immediately by Egypt.”

In an official Foreign Ministry statement, Egypt described the comments as part of “ongoing attempts to prolong escalation in the region and perpetuate instability while avoiding accountability for Israeli violations in Gaza.”

Cairo reiterated its “categorical rejection of forcibly or coercively displacing Palestinians from their land.”

The ministry emphasized that targeting civilians, critical infrastructure, and aspects of daily life to compel departure constitutes a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and amounts to ethnic cleansing.”

Egypt called on the international community to “activate accountability mechanisms against such acts,” warning that they are “increasingly being used as political propaganda within Israel due to the absence of international justice.”

The statement affirmed that Egypt will never be complicit in such practices or act as a conduit for Palestinian displacement, describing this as a “red line” that cannot be crossed.

It called for an end to “the chaos Israel seeks to impose," and urged "an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli withdrawal from the enclave, and international support to enable the legitimate Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza.”

Cairo highlighted the responsibility of the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, to ensure the protection of Palestinians and support their continued presence in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.  

Blatant violation

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called Netanyahu’s remarks “a blatant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”

“These remarks also represent a flagrant encroachment on the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to remain on their land and establish their independent, sovereign state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Jordan stressed its “absolute rejection and condemnation of the continued extremist Israeli measures and statements aimed at imposing new realities on the Palestinians by force.”

The Qatari Foreign Ministry also decried the Israeli premier’s statements as “an extension of the occupation’s policy of violating the rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, showing contempt for international laws and agreements, and pursuing malicious efforts to block the path to peace, particularly the two-state solution.”

“The policy of collective punishment practiced by the occupation against Palestinians, including the ongoing brutal genocide in the Gaza Strip, its crimes in the West Bank, its violations of religious sanctities, its plans to expand settlements and Judaize Jerusalem, and its restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid to civilians, will not succeed in forcing the Palestinian people to abandon their land or confiscating their legitimate rights.”

The ongoing genocide in Gaza entered its 700th day on Friday, with Israel having killed at least 64,300 Palestinians. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.